Power plant



July 6, 1937. Y F1 HTTNER 2,086,033

A POWER PLANT n Filed Jan. 8, 1956 Fill Attorneys.

Patented July 6, 1937 UNETED STATES i ,y regatas POWERPLANT Y' s Fritz Httner, Karlshorst, near Berlin, Germany Application January 8, 1936. Serial No.58,028

vIn Germany January 18, 1935 c claims. (ci. 122-5) It is an object of'my `invention-to improve aV plant of the type referred to.

Steam power plants have beenconstructed in which the steam'generator is of the rotary type. In certain cases, the generator has been rotated at a high speed, and'has thus produced a strong draft accelerating the ow of the medium employed for heating the generator. The operation has been found reasonably satisfactory when the heating medium was liquid or gaseous, but when solid fuels such as coal or Wood were employed for heating directly such a rapidly' rotating steam generator, considerablel diiiiculti,esl were encountered. The heating gases obtained from solid fuel always'carry with them arelatively considerable amount of unconsumed particles of coal or other solid material, and these lparticles settle upon rotary parts vof the generator :unevenly, thus disturbing the balancing, ci such rotary parts. 'Moreoven it becomes, necessary to provide special arrangements or constructions so that the rotary parts may be readily accessible for a periodical cleaning which is necessitated to remove the said solid deposits. These deposits frequently also havea corrosive action on the metal of the rotary generator. FurthermoreQ-'as these small particles are projected against the rotary generator with considerable force, owing tothe strong draft producedV by the rapidly rotating generator, they have a destructive grinding action similar to that of'ajsand blast. Such grinding action'will generally "be uneven, thereby also disturbing 'the balancingcf Athe rotary parts n In .Connection with steam-generators' or boill ers which are non-rotary. that is, stationary in relation to their support, it has been proposed to heat them with gases such as producer-gas, blast-furnace gas, water-gas or Dowson gas. In such plants, a separate fan or other mechanical draft-producing device is provided to cause the gas to travel from the gas-producer to the steamgenerator. The velocity of the heating gases relatively to the non-rotary steam generator is much less than in the case of a rotary steamgenerator, and thus the detrimental action of any solid particles that may be carried along by the heating gases is minimized, particularly in view of the fact that these gases are at a relatively high temperature at the time they come in contact with the heat-absorbing surfaces of the steam-generator.

In addition, v whenever gases' oftheV charact rv just mentioned, such as Yproducer-g'as,lblast-fu l nace gas, or coke-oven 'gas have been'izsedin piston engines, ithas been found necessary'not ,-1, only to wash the gasleavingf'the 'produceribut 5 also to coolit strongly,"for'the pl'irposefofv r'educing its volume, all'of whichinvolves lossor waste of heat. j f

The objectof my present invention is to em'- @g ploy a producer of Vgas of the character heretol0 fore ,used only inconnection with non-rotary steam-generators and to combine such producer, in a novelway', lwith a' steam-generatorjof .the rotary type operated at such` a high Speedasto produce a draft or'suction acceleratingth.. Y of the Vgases Vfrom the.producer'tov thestearngenerator. I 'arnthus enabledto dispensen th-e separate fano'requivalent'Y mechanical devi which, as statedabove, wasrequfiredhlthert'oxin plants using 'producer-gas or similar gas" for" th heatingof steam-generators oiffthep1 non-rotary type, which is' 'the only "type'heretofore' heated with lgases of this character." A plant embody-3 ing my invention is thereforeof relativelyflovv K1 cost and reliable operation on"`account fof its 25 greater simplicity. Neither-washing fnor .cooling of the hot gases is required'in-my inventiongjso that the entire heat may be utilized ifofrtl'iefgenv eration of steam. Y When'therotary steam' erator is transportable, forfinstancefwhen mounted on a vehicle, the'advantage vofdisp'e`ns-- ing with washing and cooling appliancesis've'ry important, since it wouldlen very inconvenient, and in many cases impracticabl'e, tvoc'a'rrywater for washing and cooling purposes on such ajve'- hicle. In view of these'dicultiesQ--:only-fliquidfuel, for instance gasoline, was hitherto 'acceptable for practical usein the heating o'if "rotary steam-generatorsfof the transportable ortv velling: type', but-withf the aid' ofrnyi 'inveritienf it 40 has become possible to use producer-gas and similar gases successfully under these circumstances. While rotary steam-generators can not be heated satisfactorily by the direct combustion heat of solidfuels, for the reasons explained above, tests with my invention have shown excellent resultsY when steam-generators rotating at a high speed are heated with producer-gas or the like. Notwithstanding such high speed, any solid particles of coal or solid residues of combustion carried along by the gas will have no detrimental effect on the heat-absorbing or heat-exchanging surfaces of the steam-generator.

If Dow'son-gas or water-gas is desired for heating the steam power plant, the steam requiredfor 55 vided with an outlet 3 for the Waste gases.

the production of such gas may be taken from the rotating steam-generator itself. Moreover, the heat of the gas producer may be utilized for preheating the supplemental air supplied to the steam-generator chamber to support the combustion therein of the gas sucked from the producer. The rotary steam--generator with its setting and the gas-producer are preferably constructed as a compact unit. Any Well-known or approved construction adapted to be rotated at the desired high speed may be adopted for the rotary steamgenerator, for instance constructions such as disclosed in my application for Letters Patent of the United States Serial No. r[4:1373 led September 1, 1934, which application has matured into Letters Patent No. 2,075,648 dated March 30, 1937.

The accompanying drawing illustrates a typical example of my invention in vertical section. At I I have shown a gas-producer charged with coal or other suitable solid fuel and provided with openings to admit air to the grate at its bottom. The gases obtained from such vfuel pass from the outlet of the producer into the chamber 2 pro- In said chamber 2 the rotary steam-generator 6 is supported to rotate about a suitable axis, here indicated as horizontal. 'Ihe producer gases are discharged against said steam-generator, preferably in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation. Air for supporting the combustion of the producer gases within the chamber 2 is suitably supplied to such chamber, and such air may be preheated by passing it through a pipe or coil 5 arranged to abstract heat from the producer I. As an alternative, this air might be preheated by the heat of the waste gases discharging through the outlet 3. When it is desired to make Dowsongas or water-gas in the producer I, the steam required for this purpose maybe taken from the rotary steam-generator B through a suitable connection such as exemplified by the pipe 4. The arrows indicate the direction in which the several mediums ow. The steam-generatorj is rotated at a high speed, so as to produce a powerful draft or suction through thev producer I and also through the pipe 5, as Well as assist the flow of steam through the pipe 4 when the latter is used. The intensity of the draft or suction depends on the speed at which the generator 6 is rotated and also on the construction of such generator.

Various modifications may be made without departing from the nature of my invention as set forth in the appended claims. While in said claims I have referred to a gas-producer, I desire this term to be interpreted broadly so as to include the equivalents mentioned in this specification.

I claim:

1. In a steam power plant, a gas-producer, a

, chamber connected with the outlet of said gasproducer, and a rotary steam-generator located in said chamber and arranged to be heated with the aid of the gases coming from said gas-producer, and adapted to be rotated at a high velocity to produce a draft accelerating the ow of gases from said producer to said chamber.

2. In a steam power plant, a gas-producer, a chamber connected with the outlet o-f said gasproducer, means for supplying combustion air to said chamber adjacent to the point of admission of the gases coming from said gas-producer, and a high-speed rotary steam-generator located in said chamber and arranged to be heated by the combustion of the gases coming from said producer, the rotation of said generato-r at high Velocity being adapted to4 produce a draft accelerating the ilow of gases from said producer to said chamber.

3. In a steam power plant, a gas-producer, a chamber connected with the outlet of said gasproducer, means for supplying combustion air to said chamber, and a high-speed rotary steamgenerator located in, said chamber and arranged to be heated by the combustion of the -gases coming from said producer, the rotation of said generator at high velocity being adapted to produce a draft accelerating the flow of gases from said producer to said chamber.

4. In a steam power plant, a gas-producer, a high-speed rotary steam-generator, and a connection to direct gases from the outlet of said gas-producer to said steam-generator, the rotation of said generator at high velocity being adapted to produce a draft accelerating the flow of gases from said producer to the steam-generator through the said connection.

5. In asteam power plant, a gas-producer, a high-speed rotary steam-generator, a connection to direct gases from the outlet of said gas-producer to said steam-generator, the rotation of said generator at high velocity being adapted to produce a draft accelerating theow of gases from rsaid producer to the steam-generator through the said connection, and a conduit for delivering combustion air to the gases coming from said producer, such conduit extending adjacent to the gas-producer so as to secure preheating of the air flowing through such conduit.

6. In a steam power plant, a gas-producer, a high-speed rotary steam-generator, a connection to direct gases from the outlet of said gas-producer to said steam-generator, the rotation of said generator at high velocity being adapted to produce a draft accelerating the ow of gases from said producer to the steam-generator through the said connection, and a conduit for conveying steam from said generator to said gasproducer.

FRITZ H'rrNER... 

